Whats a decent video bit rate

[bg63s]

I want to know whats the lowest bit rate i should be using, the footage I have has a lot of movement because thier is dancing. Is 5000 the lowest I should go to keep up quality??? The video is aleady from vhs so I dont want the quality going down even more

[redwudz]

Bitrate for what format? Why not try a short clip of 5 minutes and use several different bitrates? There is no hard and fast numbers for bitrate. You are the only judge of what you will be satisfied with.

[bg63s]

OK I was playing around with that, and didn't notice a big difference, but just wanted an idea of what is the standard.

[rhegedus]

What resolution are you using?

5000kbps is way too low for action scenes at DVD resolution....

[jagabo]

If you want exactly the right bitrate for any video use constant quality encoding at the quality level you want.

[bg63s]

well i did some at 5000 and seemed ok, i mean its from vhs so quality wont be dvd standards no matter what. And i ahve to fit 3 hours on a double layer dvd so I dont have a choice

[jimmalenko]

If the running time (and therefore bitrate) proves a problem then Half D1 (352 x 480 / 576) is revered as a good choice for VHS material. 4000kbps should be absolutely plenty.

[bg63s]

How does it look on tv when at 352 x 480, its much smaller??

[mats.hogberg]

352 x 480 is close to the "resolution" of a regular TV signal, so that's how it will look.

/Mats

[jagabo]

The DVD player automatically "stretches" the 352x480 picture to the same size as 720x480 fot display on TV.